Friday, September 28, 2012

As you may have guessed by my open letter, my 11 miler
yesterday did not go as well as I had hoped. It started on Wednesday. I made a
conscious effort all day to hydrate and eat plenty of carbs. Eating dinner I
announced to the boys that I was going to crush my 11 miles the next day. I
felt strong and I was confident I could. Then it happened. While I was doing
the dinner dishes, N kicked L in the face and broke his glasses. It all went
downhill. I knew immediately that I couldn’t fix the glasses and would have to
drive L down to the ophthalmologist the next day to get said glasses fixed. I
saw my run getting flushed down the toilet and it really pissed me off. Not
only did N break the glasses, he showed no remorse AND he screwed over my long
run, again. I was angry and guilty for feeling this way about my baby.

I thought to hell with it. I poured myself 2.5 ounces of
bourbon, put the boys to bed, ate two frozen cookie dough balls and tried to
sleep. The problem was, I couldn’t after the alcohol and sugar. I tossed and
turned all night long. The next morning I put N on the bus and then L and I
hopped in the car during rush hour traffic to head downtown to get the glasses
fixed. I was impressed with how quickly we got there, how quickly she fixed
them and how quickly we got home. I was able to drop L off at school in time
for his at school field trip and all was good in his life.

I then decided it was now or never for my run. I ate a Cliff
bar, changed into my skirt, put on my sunglasses, grabbed my water and left. I
knew it would be a tough run due to the late start, the heat and my lack of
sleep. My first mile was awesome. Then I slowed down. The heat and humidity got
the worst of me. I tried to ration my water, but it was hard. At 9.5 miles I
thought of stopping but decided I couldn’t. My A-plan goal of finishing the
whole run in 2 hours or less was out the window. My new goal was to finish 10
miles in 2 hours. I quickly stopped back at my house to get some more water and
a cold towel to wrap around my neck to cool my temperature down with. I hit my
goal of 2 hours for 10 miles. I was disappointed that I couldn’t do all 11
miles. I finished said 11 miles in 2:13:35. My worst time for that distance
yet. I was so discouraged and exhausted. I know that I had set myself up for
failure the night before when I said to hell with it. The whole run was a huge
mental battle that I feel that I both won at lost at the same time. I won
because I didn’t quit, but I failed by giving up so early.

As a mother runner, my first duty and priority is my family.
My second is running. That’s why I am a mother runner and not a runner mother.
I struggle with balancing my mom life and my running life. This is one example
of how a bad day in my mom life can spew over into my running life. But isn’t
that exactly how life is; a perfect (or imperfect) balance of all of our roles?
I love running because it challenges me. I push myself more than I would in my
daily life. I get angry when one part spews over into the other part,
especially if that spewing messes up the balance.

Today I talked J into taking a slow 2-mile walk just to
loosen up my legs. We headed out the same time as yesterday when I was heading
back to the house for water. As I walked with J, I complained about the heat.
He commented that it was more the humidity than the heat. I then told him how
proud I was of myself for running those 11 miles in this heat (and humidity).
If I was miserable walking today, I am definitely GBA for running in it
yesterday! That’s why I run. I may want to curl up in a ball and die while
doing it, but as I reflect on my accomplishments later I realize how awesome I
really am; regardless of whether I am on my A game in life and running or not.

Once again, you tried to bring me down. I was prepared for
your foul play. I suspected that you’d mess with me. I never expected you to
use my children, the weather and air quality. I underestimated your abilities. Never again. I knew it was going to be a long, hard go and I respected the distance. Next
time, I will eviscerate you.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Yesterday I had speed work on tap: 6x800. I definitely wasn’t
feeling it. All week I’ve been crawling back into bed after putting the boys on
the bus and sleeping for two hours. That is NOT me. Overtraining? Possibly.
Exhausted? Yup. N has been waking up each night between the hours of 11-4,
coming into my room, waking me up so he can use my bathroom and then I have to
walk him back to bed. Some nights, this happens twice. I’m an 8+ hours a night
kind of girl and do not function well with less sleep. Thank you N for
disrupting that! I know that this too shall pass, but it is starting to take its toll on
me.

With said lack of sleep, I did not feel like doing intervals
yesterday. I was tired. My legs were heavy. Should I just attempt three miles
and negative split them? That’s speed work too. Nope. Only a slacker would wimp
out like that. I forced myself to get out there, start slow and not crash and burn.
You know what? It worked. I’m still not as fast as I’d like to be. But my
splits were pretty decent. I’m keeping a steady 8:30 or faster pace during
those intervals and that is a fast pace for me! It felt so good to be done. I
love that feeling of accomplishment when you finish an exceptionally hard
workout. Yea, that’s how I felt afterwards.

I guess the lesson from this all is, if it doesn’t kill you
it will only make you stronger and hopefully faster!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Today is hubby’s birthday. As I posted on his wall, “Happy
Birthday to my better half. I celebrated with leg-trashing hill repeats. Boy do
I know how to partay!” Today was my third attempt at hill repeats. (Sorry Hills
Part Trois was not as catchy). This morning I put the boys on the bus as hubby
was leaving for work and found myself wanting to crawl back into bed. So I did.
Two hours later, I woke up, scarfed down some breakfast and hit the pavement. I
had some hills to tackle and I had wasted enough daylight napping.

My original plan was to hit the “BIG hill” on my long route
10 times. As I ran towards “the hill” I realized that it was farther from my
house than I thought;1.5 miles. I descended two hills on my way to “the hill”
and realized that I had to ascend them on the way home. “Crap. I’ll do eight
repeats instead of ten.” As I was halfway up the first repeat, I realized that
this long hill gets steeper halfway up. “Crap. I’ll do six repeats instead of
ten.” I successfully completed six repeats on this hill and ran up the other
two hills on my way home. So I guess you can say that I did a total of eight
repeats today. This hill was a b!t(h. I am looking forward to next Monday when
I will do eight repeats and show it who's boss! Today’s workout was very
similar to the last half of my race on Thanksgiving day (minus the six repeats on the same hill). While I know that my
legs will be hurting tomorrow, I am glad that I’m doing hill repeats this go
around and I’m excited to see how I perform on race day.

Tomorrow is a walk day. Hubby has the day off so we’ll
celebrate his Birthday one day late. Thursday I do 6 x 800s; wish me luck!

Friday, September 14, 2012

The last two Mondays, I have been doing hill repeats. My
first attempt was Labor Day. I did a quick Magical Mile (MM), and then moved
towards a hill on my regular running route and did six repeats. I then finished
up my run and came home. I was sore the next day. This week, I chose a steeper
hill and upped my number of repeats to eight. I wasn’t sore the next day! Next
week I am planning ten repeats on the biggest hill on my long run course. We
will see how it goes.

Today, I ran nine miles. I was actually scheduled to run it
yesterday, but N stayed home “sick”, Mommy duties trump running every single
time. I put the boys on the bus this morning and headed out. It was dark and
raining. I wasn’t too happy about that. As the sun began to rise, the rain
stopped. I hit pockets of humidity that came and went but overall the air was
cool and refreshing! I was shocked at my strength and endurance and this run.
It’s been awhile since I’ve hit nine miles and I expected my body to put up
more of a fight. I’m glad that my body decided to cooperate today!

I can proudly say that I noticed a HUGE difference today after
doing hill repeats. The hills were easier for me to ascend and I didn’t have to
stop and walk it off at the top to catch my breath! I am now a HUGE fan!!! My
pace was slower than I’d like, (I averaged 11:29) but I am convinced that it
will pick up in the near future. My goal was to run up every single hill and
not stop to walk. I did with all but one hill: the BIG hill that I will meet
and conquer next Monday! The end of mile seven was at this point and I was
fighting a very painful stomach cramp. I had to walk it off which coincided
with this big hill. Next time, I will show that hill whose boss! The stomach
cramp was from intense hunger pangs combined with a too tight fuel belt. Easy
fix for next time.

Overall, I am incredibly happy with my performance today. While
there is room to improve, I feel that I finished strong and kept my paces
regular. I’m looking forward to more hill repeats on Monday and I’m really
looking forward to meeting those hills on race day to chew them up and spit
them out!

About Me

I homeschool the most amazing, busy and lovable boys in the world. I started running in January 2010. I have run four half marathons. Blogging is my online running and homeschool journal to track my successes and fails to better myself for the next race, whether it's a foot race or the race of life!